This week I've had a number of interesting conversations with Achill Tourism Director Chris McCarthy. He has been our primary contact on the island and chief curator, introducing us to people who know the island and it's stories well, people engaged with folklore collection and preservation, and local heritage. One of the most refreshing aspects …
Category: folklore
Folk Dance, Gaeilge, and walking Achill Island
December 30 we spent the day at the Valley House, as our folk education came to us. We started the day with Emma Fallon, a native Irish (Gaeilge) speaker who came to give us a bit of history of Gaeilge and the status of language in Ireland. We capped the discussion with a basic lesson …
Continue reading Folk Dance, Gaeilge, and walking Achill Island
Good Leaders and Followers
This is a follow-up to my last post about the Future of Folkloristics conference. The conference participants talked about the skills of leadership and "followership." Many people don't think that they are, or can become leaders. They feel more comfortable as a follower. I don't have a problem with that, except the rules for good leaders …
The Future of American Folkloristics #FOAF
About a year ago, a group of forward-thinking graduate students at Indiana University hatched a plan for a conference. They wanted to bring folklorists at all stages of their careers* together to discuss the future of the discipline. Shortly after, the planning for FOAF began. This week, one hundred plus folklorists converged on Bloomington. From …
The Field School 2016
Today I begin the first field visit to prepare for the 2016 Field School for Cultural Documentation. I'll be working with Community Gardens in Arlington County. I grew up on a farm, so the idea of a kitchen garden makes sense to me. I tore out landscaping around my house to exploit the only sunny …
What is European Ethnology?
This is a fantastic overview of the field from the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF)
Two Arlingtons? An Ethnographic Reflection
Two years ago I wrapped up a two-year ethnographic project along Northern Virginia's Columbia Pike in Arlington, VA. The project provided a great site for the Field School for Cultural Documentation, but tensions in the community were running high. Long-term residents reported being ignored by their county board members. Small business owners said they were …
Fear and Loathing in Ethnography
We're into the second week of fieldwork with the field school. I've been meeting with research teams and talking about their progress I find that students have two major obstacles to overcome. The first is moving into the field. The second is setting up and completing interviews Moving Into the Field The first week of …
Sailing Club of Washington Social Sail
Field School students are learning to sail as part of the Alexandria Waterfront Project. This photo by student Ashlee Payne was taken during one of the Sailing Club of Washington's (SCOW) social sails on Thursday evenings.
Deborah Kodish retires from the Philadelphia Folklore Project
When Debora Kodish arrived in Philadelphia in the early 1980s with her new doctorate in folklore from the University of Texas, there was no one in the city documenting everyday life in its many and varied neighborhoods. No one organization was looking at what the African drummers were doing, what the Hispanic street artists were …
Continue reading Deborah Kodish retires from the Philadelphia Folklore Project
Living Ethnography 